Micro Transactions In Game Opinions

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In-game purchases are a very controversial feature to have in games, some people love them and some people hate them, but one thing is for sure that they make developers a lot of money. Where does this money go? If it is going to go into features to improve the game, allowing new events, or systems to be included in the game then shouldn’t that be a good thing? People feel like in-game purchases are unfair due to spending so much money on the game they feel they shouldn’t have to pay more. We need to rebel and stand for what we believe in what is right when it comes with games as we need to direct the developers and show them the kind of content that we would be happy to pay a little extra money for.

Above: the pink Mercy skin which all profits went to BCRF Image Source: Overwatch

One gamer known as Aayla had this to say about in game purchases, ‘I think the option of buying skins or cosmetics is fine as long as it doesn’t give players that have them an in-game advantage. I like the fact that games like overwatch and apex allow you to get skins from packs/loot boxes instead of having to buy them. I kind of disliked that in Fortnite you were stuck with a default skin unless you spent $10-20 for an actual skin. Then they released the battle pass which allowed you to grind for skins but you still had to buy the pass first (also the skins weren’t great). I liked overwatch’s pink mercy skin. I think if more games did that where a percentage of the profits go to charity it would make ppl more willing to support. The only thing I hate is buying dlc’s like for every cod game there’s a dlc to buy and if you didn’t buy it you didn’t get cool maps, which I though was unfair. I’m basically paying $60 for an incomplete game. COD games usually have the option of buying the dlcs when the game is first released D: they should just include that in the full price of the game. I don’t know, I just hated paying extra for 3 more maps.’

Another avid gamer Ruth had this to say about paid content, ‘In game purchases aren’t always a bad thing, and companies can include them in a way that doesn’t hurt the balance of the game. Like in Overwatch loot boxes contain only purely cosmetic items for the player, and they can be either earned through levelling up and completing challenges or purchased for real money. While players can purchase the boxes, nothing in the boxes will grant a player an advantage in combat, so players who can afford to buy loot boxes do not have an advantage over players who cannot. It’s when games start allowing players to buy their way into better gear to give them advantages over other players that the fairness gets thrown out the window. Starwars Battlefront did it very wrong, like in Star Wars Battlefront If players are allowed to purchase upgrades for the multiplayer modes, this makes it possible to be able to buy advantages for yourself, which puts players who have to level up in order to get those same upgrades at a disadvantage which is just dumb, you shouldn’t be at a disadvantage just cause you aren’t wanting to pay money on a game.’

Berry is a huge fan of the Destiny game which is known for having a lot of micro-transactions here is his opinion on the features, ‘In my opinion if I spent money to buy a game, I should be allowed the contents in that game, I shouldn’t have to spend even more money on stuff they (the game developers) put a price tag on. However, if the game is free to play, then its fair for the developers to put price tags on certain things in their games, because they wouldn’t be another way of getting the money, they need to upgrade their game.’

To conclude I feel like community support micro-transactions as long as they are for a good cause either improving the game and its features or looking at giving the money to charity for an exclusive skin, or to the Esports teams for Esports skins. As long as the developers don’t come as greedy, I feel like micro-transactions are a positive thing.